Alger Waterlow was the heir to the powerful Wizard House of Waterlow and was the last wizard king of the Fells. He was betrayed to the Bayars, captured and tortured in their dungeons before he took refuge in the serpent amulet he used to carry around.

His body dead and destroyed, Alger resides within the amulet as nothing more than a remnent of memory and emotion. He has no flash and no corporeal body beyond what he can conjure in Aediion. There, he goes by the name Crow.

With Alger's fall, the Waterlow House has all but fallen to ruin. Though said to have died out years ago, this is not true as the bloodline still lives on in his descendants. Though he has other descendants stemming from the line of Gray Wolf Queens, Hanson Alister is his last living gifted descendant.

Initially unaware that Han is his descendant, Alger's original plan was to take over Han's body and eliminate the Bayars with the boy's strong affinity to magic, exactly what he needed in order to make use of his magical know-how. He admits later that he is fond of Han, and takes great pride in sharing his wide expanse of knowledge with his descendant. Eventually, he learns the truth and resolves to helping Han in his endeavor.

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In the past at a time before the Breaking, Alger had fair, glittering hair framing refined blueblood features and eyes the colour of mountain asters. His only known outfit then consisted of a finely cut coat in satin and brocade, with his wizard stoles bearing the signia and device of his wizard house - ravens and a twined serpent and staff, angled through a crown engraved with wolves.

As Crow, Alger's outfit varies because his appearance in Aediion can be altered by his whim and fancy. To disguise himself, he alters his hair to take on a soot-black shade, though his eyes remain brilliant blue.

He is the original owner of the serpent amulet that Han wields, and explains that the amulet was custom made to allow him to conjure magic the world has never seen.

Alger is a cynical young man with great enthusiasm for charmcasting. He is very arrogant and sarcastic, but incredibly brilliant and knowledgeable and innovative in all forms of magical arts. Due to his experiences, Alger is a very vengeful and scheming character. He eagerly plots his revenge against those that wronged him and is relentless in his assaults. He will do his best to fulfill what he has set out to accomplish.

On the other hand, to those who take time and effort to know him, Alger is a very trusting and loyal friend. He cares greatly for his friends, even more for his family and descendants, and most of all Hanalea. He is willing to suffer on their behalf for their sakes, and will resort to begging for any form of aid if the help they require is far beyond his capabilities. He will also restrain himself if his actions will bring harm to those he loves.

Alger was once the Bayar's greatest enemy and rival, challenging them in everything from politics to magic to relationships. However, while hiding out in Gray Lady with Hanalea and an army of powerful wizard allies, Alger was betrayed and captured. Tortured in the dungeons of Aerie House, he manages to trick the Bayars into returning him his amulet, and hides himself inside it, behind charms and barriers so powerful that nothing the Bayars could do would get him out.

When the amulet came into Han's possession, Alger saw the opportunity to be free from the Bayars, and did all he could to prevent them from retrieving the amulet. At the beginning, Alger was able to take control of Han fairly easily, and often provided support when the boy seemed in danger of being prematurely killed. When the former streetlord became more adept and began putting up rudimentary barriers, Alger began to search for another way to access his mind.

Eventually, after Han enters Aediion for the first time, Alger quickly takes the opportunity to engage Han in conversation in order to persuade the boy to trust him. Unaware that his amulet's host is his descendant, Alger disguises himself under the alias of Crow and offers Han the irresistable deal of tutoring him in the ways of magic. He teaches Han a plethora of powerful spells in hopes that Han will assist him in eliminating the Bayars, and the two eventually grow to respect each other.

Many times after their tutoring sessions, when Han is greatly drained and exhausted, Alger possesses him and crosses the barriers, manifesting in the real world in his descendant's body. Taking that small window of opportunity, he searched the libraries for a way to take control of Han permanently, though it reaped no results. During one of these trips, he also unearthed a crumpled, aged map that he instructed Han to keep safely hidden.

Alger shows his true motives and hatred when Han brings the entire of Dean Abelard's secret group into Aediion. There he attacks the Bayar twins, even possessing them to turn them against each other, a strategy that he once employed to get rid of two of his enemies without linking the blame to himself. However, as Alger no longer possesses flash of his own, what he can do in Aediion is severely limited when Han interferes and ruins his chance for revenge. Unable to possess Han due to the talisman Dancer made for him, Alger admits that he has underestimated the boy and retreats.

Alger is seen again when Han approaches him for help on his way back to the camps. Initially unwilling to cooperate, he relents and reveals to Han the truth about his identity when the streetlord threatens to leave. He leaves Han to think about the truth he has revealed, though he remains slightly hopeful that the boy will remain his ally.

When Han used high magic to heal Raisa from an arrow-daub poison that confuses the senses, Alger somehow senses this and yells at him to let her go. He continues to pester his descendant until Han successfully reaches Marisa Pines Camp with the aid and escort of the Gray Wolf queens, where he releases his amulet and falls into unconsciousness. Because the amulet was removed and hidden by Willo Watersong, who feared that they would be confiscated by the Demonai, Alger believes Han dead and mourns for him.

When Han visits him in Aediion after having recovered, Alger is visibly relieved at his survival. He is not so pleased when Dancer arrives, feeling something wrong about the clan wizard. Before he can continue to ponder, Han asks him two questions given to him by Lucius Frowsley, which Alger successfully answers. However, just as Han and Dancer are convinced that Alger is speaking the truth about his identity, Alger finally recognizes Dancer to be of Bayar descent and is furious. Chiding Han for giving away their secret to a Bayar, and refusing to listen to reasoning that Dancer is too an enemy of his own blood, Alger vanishes and refuses to meet Han whenever he visits Aediion. He eventually agrees to help Han.